Opinion

“I don’t understand how Jews in America can be Democrats first and Jewish second and support Israel along the line of just following their president,” vented Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) on Boston Herald Radio last week.

INDIANAPOLIS >> Indiana’s Republican legislative leaders said Monday they’re working on adding language to a new state law to make it clear that it doesn’t allow discrimination against gays and lesbians, while Democrats countered that a full repeal is the only way to stem the widespread criticism.

There has been much discussion lately about a request by Saratoga National Golf Club (SNGC) to create a Resort Overlay District within what is known as “the greenbelt,” and the proposed City Center parking garage.

Thursday’s announcement that a Skidmore student found guilty of violating the school’s sexual misconduct policy had his suspension extended by two years was surprising given the amount of pressure put on the college to kick him off campus for good.

WASHINGTON >> President Obama got it two-thirds right when he said that the delayed confirmation of his attorney general nominee, Loretta Lynch, is owing to Senate dysfunction and Republican stubbornness.

WASHINGTON >> An abscess of anger seems to gnaw at Hillary Clinton, but the reasons for her resentments remain unclear. The world’s oldest party, which governed the nation during two world wars and is the primary architect of America’s regulatory and redistributive state, is eager to give her its presidential nomination, in recognition of .

It’s time for leadership and action from the City Council concerning two projects that would greatly benefit Saratoga Springs: a downtown parking garage and a golf resort on the eastern outskirts of town.

I have something that’s driving me nuts, so let me get on my soap box. Carbon monoxide detectors or alarms have a limited life, they do not last forever. But the purchasing public has been left uninformed.

WASHINGTON >> Sen. Ted Cruz is a decided underdog for the Republican presidential nomination, but he understands where his opening lies. And this, in turn, tells us a lot about the shape of the contest and the fight the GOP is about to have.

In 1982, during one of many visits to Israel, I had the opportunity to speak with Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who told me, “Israel needs friends.” He added that in the end, his nation could not trust any nation with its fate and security.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie stood up at a recent press conference and announced a two-way deal on ethics reform in Albany. Notably absent from the press conference was Dean Skelos, the head man in the Republican-dominated Senate and the “third man in the room” without whom almost nothing gets done in Albany.

WASHINGTON >> Every day the Chinese go to work, Americans get a raise: Chinese workers, many earning each day about what Americans spend on a Starbucks latte, produce apparel, appliances and other stuff cheaply, thereby enlarging Americans’ disposable income.

Ferguson has become the liberal Benghazi. It is more of a cause than a place, more of an ideological statement than an incident. Ferguson was not the racist murder it was thought to be, and Benghazi was not an incident in which the Obama administration’s incompetence or timidity allowed four Americans to die.

Starbucks is easy to make fun of on its best days, what with the pretentious names for everyday items, never mind the ridiculously high prices for those same everyday items. Even the cashiers have fancy monikers – “barista.

WASHINGTON >> Briefly, there seemed a chance we might have a cross-party discussion of the biggest economic problem the country faces: the vexing intersection of wage stagnation, declining social mobility and rising inequality.

I think it’s time to insult these convenience stores and drug stores that still sell cigarettes. They need to be insulted because they insult my intelligence. I just came from a drug store with a big sign that says they want to help me quit smoking if I was a smoker.

WASHINGTON >> With Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas becoming the first A-lister to throw his hat in the ring for president – in his case, I’m picturing a Napoleonic bicorn rather than a fedora – it’s time to handicap the race for the Republican nomination.

A wise man once said that if it’s after midnight and you’re running around town with only one shoe on, you’re not Cinderella. You’re probably just drunk. As we find ourselves in the final days of March, many of us are drunk on madness and searching for Cinderella in that silly basketball tournament.

I was the first in my family to attend a four-year college, something to this day my parents are very proud of. It is only now looking back that I fully understand that they knew what the promise of education could provide.

Public education has long been a symbol of promise in our great country. As the son of Italian American immigrants, I have experienced first-hand the opportunity a solid public education can offer. I have also witnessed the struggles good people endure when they are not as fortunate and are unable to access the promise public education represents; a life full of opportunity.

How colleges deal with sexual violence seems, above all else, to be a matter of culture. What is the attitude toward victims and perpetrators? How effective are the relevant policies and the people who are supposed to carry them out? Whose protection is paramount, the victim’s or the school’s? How does student perception and experience compare with a college’s goals, policies and promises?

Last week was “Sunshine Week,” a nonprofit, nonpartisan national initiative launched by the American Society of News Editors to “promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information.

Wow, what a morning I had on Monday, March 9. I spent it with two octogenarians, at least 25 civil servants and politicians, Oleta Adams, three or four photographers, a bunch of veterans, assorted local notables and some other interested supporters.

WASHINGTON >> The rate of dog ownership is rising ominously. How can a profusion of puppies be worrisome? A report from the Raymond James financial services firm concerning trends in the housing market explains: Increasing numbers of women “are adopting dogs for security and/or companionship,” partly because of “the great education divide.

WASHINGTON >> As if more proof were needed about congressional dysfunction, witness the spectacle of the last two weeks, in which the Senate managed to grind itself to a halt over a human trafficking bill that both sides want to pass.